All The Tropes

Global Ignorance: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

Global Ignorance (view source)

Revision as of 19:00, 8 April 2014

30 bytes removed ,  10 years ago
m
Mass update links
VisualWikitext
m (categories and general cleanup)
m (Mass update links)
Line 26:
* Pictured: Alfred/America in ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' asks where Japan is on a map... of North America.
** In the English dub of the anime, the narrator begins a discussion of a part of Polish history, stops herself - "Right, anime fans." - and backs up to begin a dumbed-down version of the same information. Then she stops herself ''again'': "Right, American fans. Poland is a country. In Europe!" Ow.
* Used as a plot point in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 0080 War in The Pocket (Anime)|Gundam 0080]]''. Bernie, [[Dressing Asas the Enemy|posing as a Federation soldier]], claims to be from Australia while making small talk and mentions how he used to love playing in the snow around Christmastime. [[Eureka Moment|Several minutes later, the man he was talking to realizes]] that the Southern Hemisphere has '''warm''' weather in December; this is the mistake that blows the team's cover {{spoiler|and gets everyone but Bernie killed.}} {{spoiler|Not to mention that Sydney was wiped out by}} The [[Colony Drop]] {{spoiler|and no longer exists at that time, anyone from Sydney should not be talking like that about it.}}
 
 
Line 45:
** Understandable, since what is now El Salvador ''was'' part of Spain for about three centuries. (Of course, Buffy probably didn't know that.)
*** But it is still named in Spanish, so its not that bad of a guess.
* In ''[[Die Hard (Film)|Die Hard]]'', a psychiatrist interviewed on the news brings up his book on "[[Stockholm Syndrome|Helsinki Syndrome]]", as he calls it (presumably Stockholm has copyrighted itself and wouldn't give the rights). The newsreader cuts into clarify that Helsinki is in Sweden, and is quickly corrected - "Finland."
* This may be more a case of Culinary Ignorance, but I recall that in one of the ''[[Shrek]]'' films, Donkey is served a platter of food by a chef who says "''Bon appétit''" (which is a French expression) and Donkey remarks: "Oh, boy! Mexican food!" (Of course, [[Dancing Bear|the fact that a four-legged animal can speak in the first place is pretty impressive on its own]].)
* In the Disney ''[[The Three Musketeers (1993 (Filmfilm)|The Three Musketeers 1993]]'', Porthos claims to have been given a gift from the "King of America." This is also a mistake on the filmmakers' part, since at the time the story takes place, the various American colonies were still under the authority of European kingdoms.
** In the live-action version, it's a gift from the "Queen of America" instead.
*** This is a [[Running Gag]], with other references including the "Czarina of Tokyo".
* In ''[[Snow Dogs]]'', the character played by [[Nichelle Nichols]] apologizes to an Alaskan cab driver because she only has "American money" with which to pay him.
* ''[[Earth Girls Are Easy]]'' - an alien asks Valerie if they're in Finland (just having seen a sexy travel commercial) - she cheerfully replies "No, you're in the Valley - Finland is the capital of Norway!"
* In ''[[The Wizard of Oz (Filmfilm)|The Wizard of Oz]]'', Glinda's song in the beginning says, "She fell from the sky/ She fell very far/ And Kansas she says/ Is the name of the star" implying that Oz is on another world that now thinks Earth is Only Kansas.
* [[Inverted Trope|Inverted]] on a local level in the classic ''[[Holiday Inn]]'', when Ted Hanover asks the maitre d' ''of a Manhattan club'' for directions:
{{quote|'''François:''' The second time he came from his dressing room he asked which way is Connecticut.<br />
Line 82:
{{quote| '''J.D.''': [[Lame Comeback|''You're'' China.]]}}
* In the pilot episode of ''[[Mr. Show]] With Bob and David'', Bob Odenkirk tries, and fails pathetically, in an attempt to name all the US states in 15 seconds. Thereafter, David Cross explains that Bob missed the first day of school, believes there are only five states, and thinks one of them is called "Chim-Cham".
* In a [[Running Gag]], Gob and Maeby in ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'' believe Portugal is a Spanish-speaking country in South America. The pilot also features Buster mistaking the blue parts of a map for the land (which is even sillier, since he was described a scene or two earlier as having taken classes in cartography).
** Another one involves Gob's plan to hire "Mexicans from Colombia", where Michael points out that they are called "Colombians".
* In one episode of ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'', Drew Carey called Africa a great country. Greg Proops responds "It's also a ''continent'' if you're a geographer!" The contestants turned it into a [[Running Gag]] for the rest of the episode.
* In ''[[Malcolm in Thethe Middle]]'', on his journey to Alaska Francis was conned into changing his US currency for 'Alaskan dollars'.
* In an episode of the "Trash [[Talk Show]]" parody ''[[Night Stand]]'', host Dick Dietrick (played by Timothy Stack) responds to a Vietnamese guest's question, "You've heard of Vietnam, Dick?" with "Oh yes, we fought against each other in [[The Korean War]]."
* Andy Dwyer in ''[[Parks and Recreation]]'':
Line 94:
*** Andy choosing a country for a model U.N.
{{quote| '''Leslie''': Andy, will you be Iceland?<br />
'''Andy''': The bad guys from ''[[The Mighty Ducks (Filmfilm)|Mighty Ducks 2]]''? Don’t think so.<br />
'''Leslie''': How about Japan?<br />
'''Andy''': The bad guys from ''[[The Karate Kid|Karate Kid 2]]''? Even worse. How about Germany? They’ve never been the bad guys. }}
* In one episode of ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' Shawn thinks that you can get to Europe on a bus. He even buys a bus ticket to Paris, Texas thinking it will take him to Paris, France.
* Seems to be a common trait among the 'Beauties' in ''[[Beauty and Thethe Geek]]''.
* ''[[The Amazing Race]]'' being a travel show and all, and not all of the contestants have exactly been geniuses. Occasionally the producers make a task based on it.
** Despite being constantly reminded that they were going to Chile, Season 16's Jordan (the female one) proceeded to request tickets to Santiago, ''China''.
Line 110:
** Also in Season 17: The teams were visiting a school in Ghana and tasked with identifying Ghana on a map. It went about as well as you would expect.
*** Could ''you'' find Ghana on a map ?
* When Frank, Dee, and Mac tried to play "50 States" in ''[[ItsIt's Always Sunny in Philadelphia]]'', Mac and Dee continually name states like "West Dakota". Much to Frank's amusement.
* In the ''[[Stargate SG -1]]'' episode "Chimera", Carter remarks to her [[Cop Boyfriend]] Pete Shanahan that there's no zoo in Colorado Springs, apparently completely unaware of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. [[Word of God|Writer Joseph Mallozi]] said that this was done on purpose to indicate that she spends so much time working she's completely unfamiliar with the city she lives in.
* "Moldavian wedding massacre" was a major plotline of the soap series ''[[Dynasty]]'' Apparently, the show's producers and writers were unaware that Moldavia was a real region and a historical country (although, at that time, a Soviet Republic and not an independent country).
* There was a somewhat infamous episode of ''[[Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?]]'' where ''[[American Idol]]'' contestant Kellie Pickler showed up. "I thought Europe ''was'' a country..."
Line 133:
== Webcomics ==
* Walky from ''[[Its Walky|It's Walky]]'' suffers from the same misconceptions about Canada as Dave from ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]''.
* In an ''[[Arthur, King of Time and Space]]'' strip, Arthur tells Gawaine that while he had the advantage of being taught by Merlin, there are a lot of factors holding back education in this hemisphere. Gawaine responds "Hemisphere?"
* Subverted in ''[[Xkcd (Webcomic)|Xkcd]]'' with the strip titled "[[Eagle Land|The World According to a Group of Americans]]" [http://xkcd.com/850/ who turned out to be unexpectedly good at geography], derailing our attempt to demonstrate their country's attitude toward the rest of the world."
* Gabe from ''[[Penny Arcade]]'', all the time. In one comic he thinks that the language spoken in Holland is Hollish.
* One ''[[Batman and Sons]]'' strip has [[The Flash|Barry Allen]] remarking that Wally doesn't want to go to England and have to learn a new language. Bruce points out "They speak English there", and Barry (with the perfect expression of frustration on his face) responds "I know."
** Of course, some US expats living in the UK and vice versa would probably argue that Wally [[Separated Byby a Common Language|actually has a point...]]
 
 
Line 147:
 
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]''. When Marge became the substitute teacher for Bart during the teacher's strike, at dinner, she describes her day as "Exhausting. It took the kids 40 minutes to find Canada on the map." To which Homer responds by also invoking this trope, commenting about how small and tucked away Canada is.
** Homer and Bart get whacked by this trope again in "Bart Vs. Australia". Bart mistakes a "Rand McNally" logo on his globe for a country, causing Lisa to mock him: "In fact, in Rand McNally, they wear hats on their feet and hamburgers eat people!" Later, Homer looks at the globe, spots Uruguay, and laughs "Look at this country! 'You Are Gay'!.
** Both Homer and Mr. Burns (in different episodes) are astounded at the discovery of a ''New'' Mexico, though Mr. Burns at least has the excuse of old age.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/905094"